While Emmanuel Macron’s departure is still a long way off, the municipal elections of 2026 will see French political parties kick-start their campaigning for the presidential election of 2027. But with some likely contenders already beginning to emerge, we take a look at who could be on the ballot in two years’ time.
The leader of the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) Jean-Luc Mélenchon seems inclined, at the moment, to stand for a fourth time – having taken third place behind National Rally (RN) leader Marine Le Pen in the 2022 ballot.
On the left, a broad church
The 2022 result, alongside the collective memory of the relatively short-lived Nupes left-wing alliance, as well as the divisions that arose in the New Popular Front (NFP) alliance in the wake of their victory in the 2024 legislative elections, will have certainly pre-armed Mélenchon with knowledge of the contention he arouses in some sections of the electorate, and on his side of the political spectrum.
Over at the Socialist Party (PS), the internal ballot currently under way to elect a new leader raises the crucial question of whether the party will field its own presidential candidate for 2027, or take part in a wider primary within the left.
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